MCB posts $246m in biz evsTHE Melbourne Convention

Bureau (MCB) has posted $246m from 174 business events in the 2013-14 financial year.

The Bureau’s end of year financial results showed a 32% increase in economic contribution from business events secured in the period, compared with the previous year, MCB ceo Karen Bolinger (pictured) said.

Bolinger said the Bureau’s economic performance was a “remarkable achievement” as competition to secure business events for Melbourne was stronger than ever before.

International associations and incentives had both been strong in the past financial year, Bolinger said, with more than 1,000 delegates from Shin Kong Life Insurance Company in Taiwan hosted by the Bureau.

Four major international association conferences had been secured for the future, which would inject more than $48m into the Victorian economy from 2017 to 2021, Bolinger said.

These included the World Congress on Public Health and the World Engineers’ Convention, she said.

The value of securing and hosting major international conferences to the city was proven by the findings from MCB’s Melbourne Convention Delegate Study, released in February, which included that business events was one of

the highest yielding sectors of Australia’s visitor economy, Bolinger said.

The study used 3,846 surveys from delegates from 150 countries attending five major international conferences and found that 26% of delegates were accompanied on their trip to Melbourne - CLICK HERE to read.

business events news Page 1

business events news

6th August 2014

Editor: Jill Varleyinfo@businesseventsnews.com.auwww.businesseventsnews.com.au

1300 799 220

Julley!IT’S now day three in India, following a comfortable 12 hour plus business class flight on Air India’s new Dreamliner, with the fragrant flavours of India served on the plane setting up our palates for the cuisine ahead.

We arrive in Delhi to the whole Cox & King’s, first class, meet ‘n’ greet enchilada and continue to Connaught Place in New Delhi’s Embassy precinct for a night in colonial splendour at the Imperial hotel. A 3am wake-up call for an early morning flight into the Himalayas touches down in Leh Ladakh, a high altitude desert with the mountain’s craggy peaks still bearing a covering of winter snow.

Our destination is Chamba Camp Thiksey UTC’s ‘Ultimate Travelling Camp,’ as guests of the Thiksey Monastery on whose land the camp sits.

The Camp has 12 luxury tents scattered throughout the desert landscape, gardened with marigolds and petunias, yellow mustard seed and weeping willows.

Two more tents are being fitted for a group of 28 who will arrive in two back-to-back groups next week.

Richard Gere, we learn, dined here last week during his stay at the Monastery - part of the Dali Lama’s visit to Ladakh’s Kalachakra Initiations. Drat!

Much has happened since my arrival but right now it’s 5.15am and we are heading to morning prayers at the Monastery.

Tomorrow, we have an audience and lunch with the Rinpoche who heads the Monastery, H.E. 9th Thiksay Rinpoche.

Talk about blessed! Jill

Four pages todayBEN has three pages of

editorial plus a full page from (click):

• AA Appointments

Glamping MICE offerLUXURY camping outfit

Paperbark Camp at Jervis Bay is offering a special rate for business events for its 15th birthday.

The organisation is offering 20% off for companies wanting to hire the tented bush camp for meetings and team building, valid for group bookings made before 30 Nov for stays up to 30 Jun 2015, excluding peak holiday periods.

The corporate rate is $276 per person per night, twin-share, including the discount.

Call 1300 668 167 for more information.

Sofitel GC event appSOFITEL Gold Coast has

become the latest organisation to sign up for an events app with AVPartners and DoubleDutch.

The app, ‘Events@SGC’, was branded to the Sofitel Gold Coast and offered programs, flyers, videos, venue maps and speaker information as well as social media integration, AVPartners said.

AVPartners and DoubleDutch announced their collaboration in February (BEN 28 Feb), with Hamilton Island signing on for an events app, Events@HI, in May (BEN 20 May) and Sofitel Brisbane Central in March (BEN 26 Mar).

Port Stephens seeks new ceo

AS PART of a restructure and new look for Destination Port Stephens, an interim general manager Janelle Gardner has been appointed while a new ceo is being sought, and the organisation is looking to land more events and conferences.

The organisation, which is owned by business members and supported by Port Stephens Council, said it intended to bolster its economic driver, tourism, by slashing membership costs to an annual $100 to enable businesses in the area to join the organisation.

Chairman Michael Aylmer said Destination Port Stephens was also working to attract more events and conferences to Port Stephens to boost visitation throughout the year, especially outside peak holiday periods, “and the benefits of this will ripple throughout our local economy.”

business events news Page 2

business events news6th August 2014

Immerse yourself in this timeless landscape and the ancient intricacies of the Indigenous Anangu culture. With the mighty silhouette of Uluru on the horizon, Ayers Rock Resort, home of Uluru Meeting Place, inspires delegates with high-impact events and once-in-a-lifetime experiences.

• 2 large ballrooms - 420 & 306 guests

• 4 additional breakout rooms• Outdoor amphitheatre• A permanent marquee -

280 guests

• A pre-function area• A secretariat room• In-house audio visual &

creative event production• Unique outdoor event

settings - 300 guests

ULURU MEETING PLACE AT A GLANCE

ulurumeetingplace.com.au61 2 8296 8067 conferences@voyages.com.au

MCEC’s scienceMELBURNIANS are invited to

a talk about the city’s scientific achievements, held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC).

The MCEC’s Club Melbourne Ambassador Program was sponsoring the event, which would be held in collaboration with National Science Week and the City of Melbourne’s ‘Melbourne Converstations’, the MCEC said.

The free talk would feature a panel of speakers including Swinburne University of Technology Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing Associate Professor Christopher Fluke and discuss how scientists are solving problems and the science behind the city’s great discoveries, the MCEC said.

The talk will be held on 20 Aug at 6pm and bookings are a must.

To book, emailmelbourne.conversations@

melbourne.vic.gov.au.

Adelaide wins Corroboree

ADELAIDE and the Adelaide Convention Centre (ACC) are set to host Corroboree Europe 2015 for the first time.

The Corroboree, which Tourism Australia (TA) described as a “major” familiarisation and training event for travel agents in the UK and Europe, was expected to see 200 travel agents and about 150 seller delegates attend.

The workshop would be held in the Convention Centre, and the National Wine Centre of Australia and the redeveloped Adelaide Oval would be two of the venues used for networking functions, a TA spokesperson said.

The 300 agents would also have a one day famil in the city’s redeveloped waterfront area, Kangaroo Island, Flinders Ranges, the wineries in the Barossa Valley and the Eyre Peninsula, the spokesperson said.

In addition, UK and European

agents would experience one of 20 famils around the country which would start after the training workshops in Adelaide, Tourism Australia said.

Three hundred places are available for Aussie Specialist qualified agents from various countries including Austria, Italy, the UK and Spain.

ACC director of sales and marketing Simon Burgess said the Centre was very happy to work with the South Australian Tourism Commission on the event, which was an important one for the state.

The Centre had had a good year in terms of business events, he said.

It was going through a redevelopment process with the first stage due for completion at the end of this year, which would give event planners more options, he said.

DCC hosts Indigenous talent

THE Darwin Convention Centre (DCC) will this week host the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair from Friday to Sunday.

‘Our art makes more than a living. Our Art is Living’ was the theme for this year’s Fair, which was a major drawcard for art lovers to visit Darwin, DCC gm Janet Hamilton said.

The theme reflected the thriving creativity among Australia’s Indigenous communities, DCC said.

The Fair will also include weaving, landscape painting and traditional performances.

Pictured is a piece by Rosina Ryder - Keringke Arts Centre

business events news Page 3

business events news6th August 2014

WHEN booking accommodation for your next business event or considering a US hotel to accommodate your delegates, it might pay to avoid the Union Street Guest House in New York, if reports from the New York Post are anything to go by.

Apparently, the hotel posted a policy of fining couples who booked their weddings at the venue US$500 for every negative review placed on its website by guests.

The money would be deducted from the couple’s deposit and given back if the reviews were taken offline, the publication reported.

As could be expected, the hotel was bombarded with negative reviews on Yelp, some made up and some commenting on the policy, which make for entertaining (if not very accurate)reading.

One of the reviews posted after the story was published said the hotel smelled like “1,000 cats had the flu” and that the reviewer wouldn’t recommend the hotel to their worst enemy, “the two headed shark”.

Another said that cockroaches in the hotel had “turned my family into zombies”.

One, very succinctly, simply said “Morons.”

The policy has since been removed from the hotel’s website and the business said the policy had been a joke in response to a wedding some years ago, CNBC reported.

crumbs!

CONTACT US:

Publisher Editor Deputy editor Bruce Piper Jill Varley Alex Walls

For advertising enquiries email Sean Harrigan & Katrina Ford at: advertising@businesseventsnews.com.auP: 1300 799 220 F: 1300 799 221

PO Box 1010 Epping, NSW, 1710

Business Events News is part of the Travel Daily group of publications which also include: Travel Daily, Cruise Weekly & Pharmacy Daily.

Disclaimer:While every care has been taken in the preparation of Business Events News no liability can be accepted for errors or omissions. BEN takes no responsibility for the opinions of its contributors/columnists. Information is published in good faith to stimulate independent investigation of the matters canvassed.

How smart is your fork? Not smart enough?ENTER the HAPIfork, which

brings your cutlery kicking and screaming into 2014.

The basic concept is an eating tool that measures three metrics – how long you eat for, how long between each mouthful and how many of them you take.

It uses the data to give you feedback on your eating habits, which can be viewed online via a sports-tracking-style web interface.

There is, of course, a brace of companion mobile apps for Android and iOS as well, allowing you to track your eating habits on the go.

The fork has another trick up its sleeve too, which is that when it thinks you’re eating too fast, it’ll vibrate when you put it to your lips to let you know to slow down.

It connects via Bluetooth to the web apps. The units themselves

feel like weighty travel utensils at first, but don’t feel too light or cheap. The handle sheaths are entirely removable for easy cleaning. There is a feedback light at the end which will go green when you’re good to eat, and go

red (as well as vibrate!) should you be packing the food in too fast.

You can buy the HAPIfork from

Amazon for US$99 by CLICKING HERE.

Adapted from an article in Engadget. To check out the latest tech news for small business visit Tony Wragg’s TechTalk online at tonystechtalk.com.au.

Accor’s gm swap

TWO Accor general managers in North Queensland are swapping roles and cities.

Peter Richardson (pictured above) would take up the role of general manager of the Novotel Cairns Oasis Resort, leaving the Mercure Townsville where he had been gm since 2005, Accor said.

In turn, James Murphy (pictured) would head to the Mercure Townsville as gm from the Novotel Cairns Oasis Resort, where he had been gm since 2011, Accor said.

Murphy was looking to head to Asia with Accor in the near future and so would manage the Mercure Townsville until then, an Accor spokesperson said.

Richardson was ready for the next step in his career and so was a natural to assume the gm position at the Novotel Cairns Oasis Resort, they said.

QLD targets int eventsQUEENSLAND Minister for

Tourism and Major Events Jann Stuckey has been pushing the state as a major event and convention destination on a trip overseas.

Stuckey said at a gathering of large British firms in London, the state’s reputation, resources and facilities to host events and conventions were highlighted.

It was an excellent opportunity to encourage overseas operators to invest in Australia and to partner with state companies to pursue business opportunities, she said.

Queensland had a wide variety of major events opportunities and bringing more to the state would “significantly” boost the economy and create hundreds of jobs, Stuckey said.

“As we look toward the G20

Leaders Summit in November, the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, the AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015 and the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, now is an ideal time for major international events to leverage business opportunities to expand their operations in Queensland.

“In 2013-14, major events supported by Tourism and Events Queensland generated 750,000 direct visitor nights and expenditure of $200 million.”

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